When former Boalt law student Jennifer Reisch anonymously accused Boalt Hall Dean John Dwyer of sexual harassment last fall, Reisch's lawyer Laura Stevens and her former mentor, Boalt professor Linda Hamilton Krieger, made it clear to the media and to UC administrators that they expected to see policy change at Boalt, at UC Berkeley, and beyond. They specified the kinds of changes they expected to see, citing the need for institution-wide sensitivity training about sexual harassment and gender discrimination, for policies regulating--or even banning--romantic and sexual relationships between students and faculty, and for more women faculty at Boalt. They also made it clear that there was likely to be a lawsuit if their demands were not met.

No matter that Reisch, Stevens, and Krieger shamelessly manipulated a case of he said-she said to promote their political ends, no matter that those ends bear only the vaguest connection to the situation they propose to address, no matter that the media willingly colluded with them by acting as their megaphone instead of investigating the validity of their claims and reporting the story as neutrally and objectively as possible. Now Reisch (who continues to enjoy anonymity in the mainstream media, despite being correctly identified by Critical Mass and by Shark Blog), Stevens, and Krieger are getting their way: yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle and today's San Jose Mercury News print an AP report stating that some UC Regents are calling for a comprehensive formal ban on student-faculty dating and that university officials are planning to implement a system-wide sexual harassment training program as early as next month.

UC Berkeley already has a policy forbidding students from dating their academic supervisors, and has flirted with the idea of a more comprehensive policy on student-faculty relationships since 1983, when faculty passed a resolution citing the dangers of such relationships and recommending that the faculty code of conduct be amended to reflect this awareness. Nothing was done about that recommendation at the time, though it was revived in 2001. Now, Reisch's well-timed accusations are poised to convert a longstanding bad idea into an unworkable, disrespectful, and paranoia-inducing policy. A policy is now being drafted, and the faculty will take it up at a meeting on January 29.

Though Reisch was 25 at the time of her encounter with Dwyer, though she was, by her own lawyer's characterization, falling-down drunk the night it happened, though she invited him up into her apartment and chose to wait drowsy and prone on her bed while he used her bathroom, though she was well able to choose to make the series of transparently stupid mistakes that made their now-notorious disputed encounter possible, her accusations and her subsequent use of those accusations to drive an agenda reveal not only an unwillingness to take responsibility for her own role in the ambiguous groping encounter that has since been labelled "harassment" but also a truly draconian determination to make her own lack of accountability into the basis for sweeping institutional change. The Regents are ready and willing: Judith Hopkinson, for example, has expressed a particular desire for a policy forbidding faculty from dating any and all undergrads--not just those who are presently their students.

Regent-designate Barbara Bodine has warned that such a policy is not enforceable, that it will create an atmosphere of suspicion and paranoia, and that it will make all students and faculty vulnerable to blackmail, stating that "It is very right and proper to be concerned about abuse of power" but that "there are also people who are predators on the other side." It seems clear enough, though, that there are some--Reisch, Stevens, and Krieger come to mind--who want to cultivate just such an atmosphere and who see blackmail as a useful political tool. After all, that's just what they've been doing since the case went public last November.

UPDATE: Jeff Bishop at XRLQ has more. Among other things, he notes that since "l'Affaire Dwyer" began, he's gotten numerous hits from people Googling the Boalt case--and that many of them contain the word "reisch" as one of the search terms. The same is true for me: since January 1, I've had 67 hits for the string "Jennifer Reisch," 5 for "john dwyer jennifer reisch," 4 for "john dwyer and jennifer reisch," 3 for "jennifer reisch dwyer," 2 for "dwyer boalt reisch," 1 for "jennifer reisch and boalt," 1 for "dwyer reisch," 1 for "dwyer boalt jennifer reisch," 1 for "reisch boalt," 1 for "boalt hall resignation dwyer reisch," 1 for "dwyer boalt dean jennifer," and 1 for "jennifer reisch denies." There were many more such searches throughout December. Like Jeff, I have a hard time believing that all of these hits are from people who picked up Reisch's name from the postings Jeff, Stefan Sharkansky, and I did on the Boalt case. There is a feeling of independent corroboration about them.

UPDATE UPDATE: UCLA's Daily Bruin has more details about yesterday's UC Regents' meeting.